HYDERABAD: Classical performances have been taking a centre stage in the city and for the very first time — Amuktamalyada — a Kuchipudi dance drama has been performed at Ravindra Bharathi auditorium recently. CE speaks to Sriram (Ramchandra Raju Bhupathiraju), the trustee of Guru Bala’s AbhinayaVani Nitya Niketan and a performer of the dance who gave us insights about this dance drama and also helped us understand how they practised to perform Amuktamalyada for the very first time at the city auditorium.
Sharing his experiences about the performance that took place at Ravindra Bharathi, Sriram says, “The idea of the dance drama was to highlight the literary gem that Amuktamalyada is. In trying to do that we got people who have put their life and soul into Amuktamalyada to do the scripting.
Dr T K Chudamani has done her PhD on Amuktamalyada and we have also taken advice from Dr Srinivas Reddy, he used to teach us and his PhD too is on the same. We have got in a lot of academics for this and the music was composed by Dr Saroja who teaches Maths at IIIT Hyderabad. Dr Yashoda Thakore, an acclaimed and accomplished Kuchipudi and Devadasi Nrityam artiste was the adviser for this performance.
We brought this to highlight the literary significance of Amuktamalyada and how it is culturally significant for the Telugu populace.
That was the aim of this dance. We got the dialogue authored accordingly so that an average Telugu person can understand this. I don’t think this has ever been done before. Of all of these people, the one key person is the director — Bala Tripura Sundari. This is the first time in the Kuchipudi dance drama that the Devadasi-style Kuchipudi artists collaborated with them.
We intend to take this across the country and the world. I have been Guru Bala’s student for 10 years now and I have performed in many of her ballets in some small roles. This is one of the many that I worked. It took one year to choreograph this art performance. There was an immense amount of practice.”
Regarding the love from the audience his entire team received, he says, “The hall was full and to fill this place with a classical dance is a huge thing. It was a treat in itself.”